The Reims University Hospital does not intend to appeal in cassation of the court decision ordering it to give the means to Dr Simon to resume the collegial procedure for V. Lambert.
This may be the end of the interminable Vincent Lambert affair. Thursday, the Administrative Court of Appeal of Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) ordered the Reims University Hospital to resume the collegial procedure for this patient in a vegetative state for more than seven years. While his family was torn apart over his survival, the procedure was suspended in July 2015 after the medical team at the CHU said they had been pressured. But this time around, the establishment no longer intends to back down.
In a press release published this Friday, the Reims University Hospital Center wrote that it had taken note of the terms of the judgment rendered by the Nancy Administrative Court of Appeal, enjoining it to “put Doctor Simon, or any other practitioner likely to him succeed, able to meet the obligations incumbent upon him vis-à-vis Mr. Vincent Lambert by virtue of the public health code ”.
The CHU will not appeal to cassation
Then, the establishment takes a stand. He confirms that he “does not intend to appeal in cassation against this court decision” and that he “will comply with the injunction which has been made to him”. “The University Hospital of Reims reiterates its constant concern to protect the privacy of the patients for whom it provides care and to ensure the protection of its medical and nursing staff in the exercise of their missions”, he concludes.
As a result, the hospital now has several options. Start the collegial procedure immediately with Dr Daniela Simon, or restart it, but with another practitioner. In this regard, the Court recalled that the decision to stop treatment “only committed the doctor who took it”. “The new doctor in charge of Mr. Vincent Lambert is not bound by the decision of his predecessor,” she ruled.
Finally, whoever the doctor is, he will not be able to hide behind the deleterious atmosphere around the establishment. The Court of Nancy considered that these “possible threats” do not represent a sufficient legal means to justify an indefinite stopping of the proceedings. Waiting for the climate to be calmer is not a valid argument either, in the eyes of the judges.
Ultimately, the decision to resume collegial proceedings is left to the discretion of Vincent Lambert’s medical team.
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